A Flock of Birds, One Stone

You know the saying "kill two birds with one stone?" Well I'm not sure exactly how many birds make up a flock but we were able to kill a lot of birds with one stone this weekend. This weekend we traveled to Pensacola. Not only do we have 3 sets of friends who already live there but our best friend from Auburn Jeff was in town visiting. We were so excited when he told us he was coming to visit in the town where we already had so many friends that we love to get to see. Then we heard from our friends Ryan and Jill in North Carolina. They were planning to come to Gulf Shores the same weekend that Jeff would be in Pensacola. Could that have worked out anymore perfectly?? Not for us. Everyone was basically in one place and we were able to make one trip.

Shay and I met Jeff our freshman year at Auburn. The three of us, along with our friend Adam, were inseparable for the rest of our college years. Then we all graduated and moved away. Jeff actually got to stay at Auburn for one more year as a graduate coaching assistant then moved to Austin to do the same thing at the University of Texas. As if that wasn't far enough he has most recently taken a job as a defensive coach at Iowa State University. Seems like he is getting farther and farther from us, which makes us really sad. However, he is living his dream of being a college football coach at the age of 26. What an accomplishment. We could not be prouder of him. Plus we have racked up on free Auburn, Texas and now Iowa State paraphernalia in the mean time. Jeff was excited to get to see Mary Selwyn. The last and only time he has seen her was when she was 6 days old. She warmed up to her uncle Jeff very quickly and they played and shared many kisses. I wish we all got to see each other more often.

Jeff happened to be staying with our friend Chad Stacy from high school. Now we spend almost every Saturday in the fall tailgating with the Stacy family so we see Chad very regularly during football season. The off season however, not so much. It was a fun treat to get to visit with Chad too. He is so entertaining, as you can probably tell by this picture of him and MSN.

Saturday morning we were lucky enough to have Jeff join us for breakfast along with Rachel and Chad Friday and Brad and Maile. Rachel is my best friend from High School. We've been friends a long time and I only come to love her more and more. She met her husband Chad at Troy and they have two of the most beautiful children. We had quite the crew at breakfast and the kids were very well behaved. I managed to sneak in a few pictures. It was a little bright for Turner, who is growing his hair out like Tarzan by the way. They are so cute.

I was also reunited with Maile Saturday morning. I realize it has

only been like a month but it felt like it had been years. I was so excited to see her. Mary Selwyn was very excited too. She went straight to her and sat in her lap for a very long time. She has missed her too, I could tell. Maile was mistaken for MSN's mommy twice this weekend. Must be the red hair, oh and the way they adore each other when they are together might make it seem that way too. It was GREAT to see Maile because I have missed her so, but I think it just made me miss her more.

After breakfast we were off to Gulf Shores. I could have stayed with the crew in Pensacola for a week but I was excited to see Ryan and Jill. Ryan and Jill lived in Dothan with us for the first year we lived here. Shay and Ryan worked together and became very good friends. We spent so much time with them that first year and we were sad when they moved to North Carolina. We had a fun dinner and then the boys rode go carts like a bunch of kids while Mary Selwyn and I played in the arcade. It was fun and good to see them. Here is a picture with Mary Selwyn and the Huffstetlers.

One thing we learned this weekend is that you can't do the same things with a child that you could do without a child. We wouldn't trade Mary Selwyn for anything in this world, I promise you that. I think this weekend we just pushed her to her limits and attempted things that just aren't feasible anymore. Like a trip to the beach. We tried to go with Ryan and Jill to the beach Saturday afternoon.....bad idea. Mary Selwyn was tired, didn't want to be in the water, didn't want to be in the sand and did not want to be put down. We lasted all of ten minutes before making the long hike back to the car. Overall she did really good this weekend. She slept well and was very pleasant but I know she is glad to be home. We finished our trip with breakfast Sunday morning with Maile and Jeff again, they both happened to be in Gulf Shores so we met at the Waffle House.

Mary Selwyn spent so much time in the car this last week. She went with her Meme back to Prattville for a couple days to surprise Papa at his retirement party and then the same day I picked her up we immediately turned around and left to see our flock. She slept most of the time but she was very relieved to be home and out of that car. First thing she did is trade her pants for her princess cape and crown. I promise this is the first thing she found and brought it to me to put on her. She wore around for a while...it was so funny. It was a fun weekend with friends we love and don't get to see enough of but there is just nothing like home sweet home these days!

Well I got half of my pictures to upload...I'll keep trying on the rest but chances are they won't make it. I promise to put the princess cape pictures on my next post...they are the cutest!